"Kraveel" class Bulk Transport:

In many ways, medium sized transports are the backbone of trade in the Three Galaxies. Smaller transports do not carry the cargo which these vessels do and heavy transports are expensive and only operate in areas of greatest traffic. There are huge numbers of classes of merchant designs produced over centuries. Some of these ships are ancient and should have been retired long ago. Many are ill maintained and are considered to be death traps. There are often considered to expensive to properly refitted.

While some systems have regulations which prevent these ships from operating within their controlled space. In some cases, these ships have actually been seized so that they are scrapped. Still, there are many places which there are no regulations as to what ships can operate within their space. Often, these ships are operated around the fringes and frontier areas.

. There are plenty of extremely poor planets and there are always people desperate enough to man these ships. As a result, there are always people who are desperate enough to crew these vessels. These crew are often ill trained compared to those in better paid lines, resulting in more ship losses than the worn hardware explains. Often the crews are blamed for accidents by the owners of these ancient vessels. It allows them to reduce their own liability for incidents. As well, many of these ships are operated by skeleton crews, further reducing these ship’s safety.

The Kraveel class transport is fairly typical of old transport classes within the Three Galaxies. Like many, they have not been produced for centuries. The company which produced these ships does not exist anymore. They can be purchased extremely cheaply, making them popular with some cargo lines. Even though many have been scrapped, it is surprising how many of these vessels are still operational, many with hull or structural damage. These ships are Bulk transports with container ships being little more than frames which the cargo containers are locked into. A maximum of around two hundred and fifty thousand tons of cargo can be carried on the Kraveel class.

Compared to modern vessels, these ships are slow. They are far slower than modern merchant designs with a maximum faster than light speed of one and a half light years per hour. Power is provided by a fusion reactor. While they are safer than anti-matter reactor, many are jury-rigged and are operated far beyond their normal limits. Often, they are not refueled until they are virtually out of fuel. Their refueling is often done by improperly trained personnel and under extremely primitive conditions.

About one quarter of these vessels were originally armed. Over the years, many have been stripped of weaponry. Standard weaponry was four laser batteries and a pair of medium range missile launchers. At the time which the ship was developed, this was considered fairly well armed. As well, most ships did not carry any shielding beyond normal radiation and particle shielding. Those with heavier shielding are still far lighter shielded than military standards. By modern standards, these ships are easy targets by pirates. Their acceleration does not allow them to escape pursuit and sensors are extremely short ranged. They have only have about a quarter the range of sensors on new civilian starships.

This starship design uses modified starship speed and weapon range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Model Type: VQX-600
Vehicle Type: Medium Freighter (Obsolete)
Crew: 146 (20 Officers and 126 Ordinary Crew)

Vehicles:

Mini-Tugs (Provision for cargo transport, not always carried)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Point Defense Laser Cannon Turrets (4):	180 each
	Medium Range Missile Batteries (2):	220 each
	Outer Hull (40 x 40 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	80
	Inner Hull (40 x 20 ft/ 12.2 m x 12.2 Area):	60
	[1] Bridge:	1,500
	[2] Main Engines (2):	2,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	15,000
	[4] Force Field (Regular):	1,000

Notes:
[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s hull. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the bridge is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[2] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the liner out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.
[4] Shields are not variable. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (50 M.D.C.) per melee. Many vessels do not mount any shields.
(Hit locations assume a ship in good condition. For a ship in less than optimal condition, roll 1D6 and multiply by ten. Reduce all hit locations by that amount)

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 20 percent of the speed of light maximum due to civilian shields. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.3 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 200 mph (321.9 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 1.5 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about twelve month worth of supplies on board for the crew but normally does not operate for that long without resupply. Can be stretched to one and a half years in emergency.

Statistical Data:
Length: 880 feet (268.22 meters)
Height: 360 feet (109.73 meters)
Width: 410 feet (124.97 meters)
Weight: 360,000 Tons (326,000 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 12 year life span. The ship is suppose to only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting although many crews stretch it.
Cargo: Can carry up to 250,000 tons (226,800 metric tons) of cargo in addition to crew’s supplies. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ship’s spaces are take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 250 million credits (non armed version about 200 million)

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Laser Batteries: Weapon system is used as an anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter. Weapons system has no minuses to hit fighters and small targets and can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee). The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 100 miles (161 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 2D4x10 M.D.C. each.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Two (2) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and point defense. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.
Maximum Effective Range: Medium Range Missile range is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space.
Mega-Damage: Varies with medium range missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per battery
Payload: 24 per battery for a total of 48 medium range missiles.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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